A new technological approach developed by researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology can achieve two goals in one.
This is approximately half the energy demand of households in Norway or roughly the amount of energy Norway spends on heating its homes. Kim Kristiansen, a doctoral researcher at the Department of Chemistry at NTNU, wondered if there was a better way to tackle this heat that was being wasted. Alongside heat, water from industrial processes is also a concern because it is contaminated.
Kristiansen has spent the past several years studying the intricate effects of temperature difference when water is pumped through one side of the membrane and when it cools down on the other. The researcher has developed theories to predict the effect on the membrane and then verified them in the lab.
Like all scientific developments, this solution is based on previous research carried out in a different country.